North Idaho businesses, nonprofits join forces for Day of Caring

COEUR d’ALENE — About 200 volunteers from area businesses joined forces with local nonprofits Thursday for United Way’s annual Day of Caring.  

Volunteers helped with a variety of projects at 16 different nonprofit sites in Coeur d’Alene and two sites in Sandpoint. Projects included ceiling tile work, yard work, painting, food packaging and deep cleaning. The work done by volunteers saved local nonprofits an estimated $20,000 in labor costs, according to Jen Reynolds, the development manager with United Way of North Idaho.  

“This is a positive way to engage with community partners, get people into a beautiful space and serve in a fun and unique way,” said Richie Withycombe, the operations director at Camp Lutherhaven.  

Camp Lutherhaven hosted volunteers, including several volunteers from the Coeur d’Alene Press, on Thursday to help with yard work and site cleanup following Wednesday’s strong winds.  

Other participating businesses included USBank, STCU, St. Vincent de Paul, P1FCU, the North Idaho College Workforce Training Center, Lutherhaven Ministries, Kootenai Health, Knudtsen Chevrolet, City of Coeur d’Alene, Avista and Advanced Benefits.  

United Way serves all five counties in North Idaho, though this year’s projects were mostly concentrated in the Coeur d’Alene area.  

“Although we did get two projects in Sandpoint, we would love to be able to expand to all areas in the future years,” said Reynolds. “This collaboration with all area nonprofits allows this community to be successful.” 

Reynolds estimates that Day of Caring has been a yearly tradition for about 15 years. This year's sponsors included U.S. Bank and STCU, and lunch was provided by Pita Pit. 

    A group of volunteers from Avista helped with ceiling tile work during Thursday's Day of Caring event.